Young Love
by Ekusukallybaa
Summary: Sasuke had a very good reason for running away from Konoha.
1. Easy Choices

Prologue: Easy Choices

The barrel vanished in a puff of smoke, and Sasuke stood up. He flexed the fingers of one hand, then the other, and clenched a fist, feeling the flow of new power rush through his body, coursing through his veins.

Yes… with this…

Sasuke reared his head and laughed, a sound filled with dark anticipation that cut like the edge of a knife.

With this, he would be _free_.

He heard something from behind, something that vaguely sounded like a voice, one he recognized, but he ignored it.

It was time to leave.

With a push off the ground, Sasuke was gone.

XXX

It was at the Valley of the End that Sasuke finally paused for a moment to regain his breath, kneeling atop the Shodai's head...

It was a beautiful place. Lush green forests and mountains surrounding an idyllic waterfall, the two statues, features slightly worn by time but still sharp, attesting to the skills of the sculptor.

Sasuke shook his head, and rose to his feet. That was enough rest. With a single leap he crossed the river, landing atop Madara Uchiha's statue.

He had to keep moving, or else-

"Sa-su-ke ~!"

Sasuke Uchiha, Rookie of the Year in his graduating class, a once-in-a-generation prodigy, one of the last members of his illustrious clan, chosen of Orochimaru of the Sannin…

 _Froze_.

Nonononononononononononono-

"I _finally_ caught up with you!" The _voice_ continued, bright and cheerful.

Sasuke felt like all of his joints had rusted, screeching and resisting him as he turned slowly, ever so slowly to face _her_.

She was young, only twelve-years old, just like him, but even at that age she showed the signs of a future beauty. Long, straight red hair framed a face as delicate as a porcelain sculpture with dewy eyes, high cheekbones and lips like rosebuds. She was wearing an orange shirt with long sleeves that hid her hands from sight and a pair of long, blue pants.

"But still, Sasuke," she continued uninterrupted, her lips drawing up into a pout. "You're so mean! I was calling to you right when you got out of that barrel, but you didn't listen at all!"

Sasuke raised a shaking finger at her. "N-none of that m-matters now, N-Naruko!" He stammered as assertively as he could "I-I have alr- already severed the b-bond between us! F-from now on-!"

"Severed… the bond… between us?" She started chuckling, then laughing, a bell-like noise only belied by the sudden shadow that seemed to fall over her eyes. Her voice slowly started changing, moving faster, becoming oddly distorted even as she spoke. "What are you saying, Sasuke? Just yesterday, I licked _aaaallll_ of your old dinner plates clean, so as you can see there's no way you could sever the bond between us bEcaUse yOu'rE AlreADy iNsidE oF Me aND wE'Ll alWaYs bE toGetHer BeCausE yOu cAN neVEr evER EVer leAvE mY sIdE aNd-"

Sasuke let out a strangled yelp and threw out his hands, flinging an entire brace of kunai in Naruko's general direction. As soon as they struck, the exploding tags attached to the knives detonated, throwing up a cloud of dust and smoke.

Sasuke looked up, watching the cloud of smoke slowly clear.

 _D-did I get her?_

"That was so meaaaannn!" her voice echoed from behind him.

The Uchiha felt a deathly chill rush down his spine and whirled, just in time for Naruko to bound up to him and pull him into an embrace.

"But you know…" she whispered, tracing circles on Sasuke's trembling chest. "I don't mind if you're rough with me sometimes too Da-ar-ling~."

Sasuke squawked in pure terror and in an instinctual move, pivoted and broke her center of balance, flinging her over his shoulder.

Or he would have, had she not disappeared in a puff of smoke when he was halfway through the maneuver.

 _A shadow clone_.

That one coherent thought which had somehow forced its way through the hysteria that was now gripping Sasuke's entire being was washed away just a moment later when he turned back to look around, and saw what was before him.

"Sasuke!"

"Sa-su-ke ~!"

"Sasu _ke_!"

" _Sasuke_!"

SasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSasukeSASUKESASUKESASUKESASUKE-

Not one.

Not ten.

Not a hundred.

A _thousand_ of them. A thousand identical red-haired girls, all of them calling his name, all of them slowly advancing on him.

Barely able to think through the haze of absolute terror that consumed him, Sasuke brought his hands together repeatedly forming the seals as fast as he could.

 _Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!_

The clones took the fireballs head on, unable to avoid the sheer spread of the barrage. They dispelled by the dozens, throwing up clouds of smoke that soon covered the entire mass of them.

Sasuke leaned forward, panting, but keeping his eyes focused straight forward, watching the cloud of smoke slowly disperse.

When it was finally gone, he could see. The army had been decimated. All of them were gone, probably disappearing as soon as the flames licked them.

All except one.

"Why Sasuke~" Naruko said, a faint red aura flickering just above her skin. "If you wanted me to walk through fire for you then-"

Sasuke shrieked and charged her, fist crackling with lightning, eyes closed as he flailed wildly.

Splat.

Slowly, almost not daring to believe, Sasuke opened his eyes.

There, in front of him, he could see it. His hand, stuck straight through Naruko's right shoulder, blood dripping from the wound. Her eyes were open, wide with shock, staring straight at him.

It took him a moment to process what had happened, and then, at once, he was hit by a bittersweet mix of euphoria and sudden regret.

He had done it, he had gotten rid of her! But had she really deserved it? All she had been guilty of… all she had done was love him. How could he have-

Naruko's rosebud lips quirked up into a smile, and her hands came up to cover blushing cheeks.

Wait, _hands_? She shouldn't have even been able to move her right-

"Thrusting into me so suddenly… how bold of you, Sasuke~."

And something inside of Sasuke _snapped_.

"NONONONONONONONONONO GET OFF MY ARM GET OFF MY ARM GETOFF GETOFF GETOFF GETOFF GETOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFF!"

With a force of will, and despite her resistance, Sasuke tore his arm out of girl and dove off the side of the statue, into the river below. Without any hesitation, he pushed the poor, violated appendage underneath the surface of the lake and began scrubbing it off as fast as he could.

"Aaah…" Something in Naruko's voice caused Sasuke to stop and turn around.

She was slightly downstream from him- Wait, was she _drinking the water he was using to clean-_

"My blood, your sweat, all mixed with the taste of nature…" she said, bringing her hands (Sasuke idly noted that the wound he had inflicted on her shoulder only moments before seemed to have already closed up) back to her cheeks. "It's like we've already had our first child."

He felt another set of her arms wrap around him from behind. "Isn't that right, darling~?" Sasuke panicked, struggling to shift left, then right, but she was holding him too tightly.

So he did the only thing he could do.

Sasuke slipped down, leaving Naruko holding his shirt, then turned and _ran_ as fast as he could, all pride forgotten.

"Ah! Sasuke, wait for me!"

The cursed seal spread across the Uchiha's skin, his skin turning a dark purple, and a pair of hand-like wings sprouted from his back.

With a single beat of his new appendages, Sasuke took off into the sky, in the direction of Rice Country and his salvation.

"Don't worry, Sasuke!" he heard Naruko cry out from beneath him. "I'll find you wherever you go! Even if I have to scour the entire world! Because we'll alllllways be together, no matter what~!"

Sasuke knew she was right.

He really, really wanted to cry.

XXX

Naruko turned to look at Kakashi when he arrived and smiled that gentle, happy smile of hers.

"Kakashi-sensei! You're here! Sasuke went that way!" She pointed in the direction of Rice Country. "Now we get there before him!" She blushed prettily. "I'm sure he must be really sad, thinking that he won't get to see me for suuuuch a long time, so I decided to let him go, then surprise him when he arri-"

That was as far as she got before Kakashi seemed to teleport behind her, landing a swift chop to the back of her neck and catching her as she fell to his feet, unconscious.

Picking the girl up, Kakashi looked into the distance and smiled under his mask.

"As your teacher and your superior, this, your very _freedom_ , is the last gift I can give you." He sighed. "Good luck, Sasuke. Don't look back."

He turned and leapt away in the direction of Konoha.

And as he moved, Kakashi knew that he would not regret letting Sasuke go.

He had broken the rules, but he had saved his comrade.

He was certain that Obito would have been proud of him.

XXX

"Can you confirm, after watching them fight?" Tobi asked.

Zetsu, both black and white halves merged, nodded. " **Yes. Acquiring Sasuke Uchiha will bring the Kyuubi's jinchuriki straight to us,** " Black Zetsu rumbled.

"But still…" White Zetsu muttered. "I don't know if this is a good idea. There was something wrong with that girl. I get the feeling she'll be very troublesome…"

Tobi laughed. "Do not worry. She is just a child, after all. What threat could she possibly pose to _us_?"

XXX

"How is Sasuke?" Orochimaru asked Kabuto as the medic the laboratory. "Is he… doing better?"

The medic pushed up his glasses. "Yes, he calmed down after some… persuasion."

"Oh? Persuasion?" Orochimaru looked up from his work.

A small grimace crossed Kabuto's lips. "I… had to guarantee several times that you would definitely take his body after three years and that you would use it to kill Itachi for him. He made me promise. Repeatedly."

"Oh?" Orochimaru laughed. "I had not expected my new vessel to be quite so _eager_. This is good news, Kabuto."

The grimace on the silver-haired man's face deepened. "I… do not know, Orochimaru-sama. It felt less like eagerness and more as though he was afraid of what would happen if you did _not_ take him. If I may speak freely…" Orochimaru nodded, and Kabuto continued. "I am no longer certain whether taking Sasuke's body is the best course of action."

"Your concern is noted," Orochimaru said, the ever-present smile on his face widening further. "But in order to attain my goal, the power of the Uchiha is an absolute necessity."

"I… see, Orochimaru-sama."

The Snake Sannin let out another rasping laugh. "Come now, Kabuto. Do not be so gloomy. After all, today we have achieved a great victory. I have obtained a new and willing student and a perfect future vessel. In just three years, with Sasuke's body, I shall be _unstoppable_."

Kabuto pushed his misgivings down, and returned his master's smile.

"Indeed. It is just three years, after all. What could possibly go wrong in a mere three years?"


	2. Absence Makes the Heart Grow Farther

Chapter 1: Absence Makes the Heart Grow Farther

Orochimaru's laugh rang out through the woods. He couldn't help it. The entire situation was simply too delicious.

"I see," he murmured, facing the retrieval team. "So you killed Sasori already. I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for removing that inconvenience."

There were four of them. A pink-haired girl who the snake vaguely remembered as being one of Sasuke's old teammates, his old _experiment_ \- who he had just now discovered was still alive, a dark-haired youth with pale skin, and a red-haired girl.

The Kyuubi jinchuriki.

The man and the jinchuriki both seemed almost frighteningly focused on the Snake. If looks could burn, Orochimaru was certain that he would already be nothing more than a pile of ash.

The other girl, though, _Sakura_ , he remembered her name was, seemed… strained somehow. Almost as if she desperately did not want to be where she was.

Orochimaru's wicked smile curved upwards even further, almost splitting his face in two. Was she afraid? How amusing.

"Where is Sasuke Uchiha?" the experiment demanded. The red-haired girl twitched in reaction to the name. Violently.

Orochimaru chuckled. "And what do you intend to do if I tell you?" he asked.

"We'll, uh…" the pink-haired girl spoke, her eyes shifting to the jinchuriki. "Take Sa-" Naruko twitched violently once again. "Uh, _him_ back. Yeah. Definitely. That's why we're here. To retrieve our beloved teammate. You will… never take him away from us, his friends-" Twitch. " _And his one and only true love who I would never even dream of getting in the way of_ _please don't stab me_."

Orochimaru's smile grew slightly shallower. He had not been able to hear the girl's last words over the wind, but she seemed… off. There was fear, but…

He gave a mental shake of his head. There was no need to worry. He was probably just imagining it. Instead, he allowed his smile to deepen once more.

This time, Kabuto was the one who responded.

"What meaning would there be in telling you?" He laughed cruelly. "Sasuke came to Orochimaru-sama of his own free will. He abandoned the Leaf, he abandoned you, his so-called 'friends' and 'one true love,' all for the sake of power."

Orochimaru almost chuckled. Kabuto had always been a bit twisted, taking so much enjoyment out of provoking his e-

"Oh, he's just lying about that," the jinchuriki said, a gentle smile lighting up her face as her cheeks blushed a rosy pink color. "After all, there's no pooossible way that Sasuke would be happy being away from me!"

 _Wait what._

That… had not been the reaction he had been expecting.

Kabuto blinked and for a bare instant, his smile grew just slightly, almost unnoticeably, thinner. It was barely a flicker, but the mere fact that Orochimaru had been able to notice it was a sign that the girl's reaction had caught him off guard. Quickly, not losing his composure, he continued speaking. "Hmph. You're simply delusional. 'No possible way he could be happy being away from you?' Sasuke was crying tears of joy when he first arrived in Sound!"

The girl stared at Kabuto, eyes wide. Then her lower lip trembled, and her eyes began to shimmer with unshed tears. She opened her mouth, but what she was about to say was cut off by a choked sob. Orochimaru's cold smile widened.

"H-he was crying?" she whispered. "Oh Sasuke… you…"

Yes! This was-

"You were that sad to be apart from me?"

Or not.

She raised her arm and wiped her eyes clear. "Don't worry, darling! Soon, we'll be back together, and this time, we'll neeever be apart again!"

Kabuto spoke again, just slightly faster than before. "He begged Orochimaru-sama to take his body as soon as he arrived!"

"He went so far just to maintain his cover so that he could help us find you? Oh, Sasuke…"

"He created a shrine for the five Otogakure shinobi who helped him escape Konoha to come here! And he visits it every day to pay his thanks!"

"Sasuke can even appreciate the valor of those who kidnapped him?" Her cheeks blushed and she brought her hands up to cover them, letting out an almost obscene gasp. "He's so noble, so kind! He's like a real life prince~!"

"He addresses every new Sound ninja he meets politely and thanks for letting him be a part of our village!"

"Always maintaining his flawless deception, never once wavering… The perfect shinobi~!"

"He's… very popular with the ladies!"

"He's so perfect and handsome and amazing! How could they not love him?"

"He… He's greeted every new day with a smile ever since he arrived!"

Kabuto's latest proclamation held a clear air of desperation to Orochimaru's ears, even if it went unnoticed by their audience. Orochimaru would have shaken his head in annoyance had he not noticed what happened next.

Because Naruko Uzumaki…

 _Froze_.

Absolute silence, broken only by the sound of Sakura hyperventilating.

"... lying…" The whisper was so low that Orochimaru almost missed it, but what he _heard_ in that sound...

A shudder ran down the pale man's spine. He knew that voice. He _remembered_ it, or one very similar to it.

Kabuto, on the other hand, perked up. Before his master could reach out to stop him, he spoke.

"Oh?" he asked, his cold smirk widening. "Would you care to repeat that?"

Orochimaru turned and saw.

Her eyes were wide open, staring straight at them, unblinking.

 _Empty_.

"You're lying," she said cheerfully, then continued before Kabuto could respond. "There's no way that Sasuke was smiling when he was here, because all the time he was in Konoha he neeever ever smiled at all!" She began breathing heavily, and her voice came out faster and faster. "Sasuke is cool and serious, just like a prince. He never ever smiles because he's always trying to be strong for me but he's always happy because I'm with him. And I was always watching him even when he was training and when he was sleeping and when he was fighting and he was angry and sad and tired and embarrassed and scared but he never smiled so why is he smiling he doesn't smile when he's happy he can't be smiling when he's happy because he'd be happy without me and Sasuke isn't happy without me so he's smiling but that means he's sad so he isn't happy without me isn't happy isn't happy isn't happy ISN'T HAPPY ISN'T HAPPY ISN'T-"

Kabuto's satisfaction was plain to see. Orochimaru tasted bile at the back of his throat, and his mouth went dry. He reached forward to try and pull his subordinate back, but it was too late.

The girl's fist impacted and deformed Kabuto's face, snapping bones and caving in his entire cheek. The medic was sent flying into the forest, ripping up dozens of trees in his wake.

" _Meep._ " The squeak came from Sakura, who had somehow managed to compress herself so far back that Orochimaru could barely see her, even on the relatively open bridge.

Orochimaru turned. Slowly.

And he saw _her_ , the red chakra boiling from her skin, fangs lengthening in her mouth, the look of glazed emptiness now replaced with one of pure rage.

 _Oh fu-_

XXX

There was a massive explosion in the distance, and Sasuke fell out of bed screaming.

"Oh god please no don't-!" The plea for mercy died in his throat as he took stock of his surroundings.

He took a deep breath, then another.

"Just… a dream?"

It had been a nightmare. He had dreamed that Naruko had found him in Sound, and had broken into his room and tied him up. He had woken up just as she had been about to-

Another far-off explosion rattled the furniture in his room. Sasuke frowned.

 _Is Orochimaru-sensei conducting more experiments?_

Sasuke shrugged and got up. He wouldn't be able to sleep again tonight. The last vestiges of the nightmare from before still clung to his mind like old pieces of lint, whispers of a remembered terror. He would need to work rather to take his mind off of it.

 _It was nothing. She'd never be able to find me here, anyway. Not now. There's just a few weeks left until Orochimaru can take my body. Fate doesn't hate me_ that _much, does it?_

Stepping forward, Sasuke bowed before the shrine to the Sound Five in his room as he did every morning, paying his thanks to the brave shinobi who had given their lives to allow him to escape Konoha.

"I give thanks to Jirobo for a body untouched by Naruko," he intoned. "I give thanks to Tayuya for a silence unbroken by Naruko. I give thanks to Kidomaru for the distance between me and Naruko. I give thanks to Sakon and Ukon for my separation with Naruko. I give thanks to Kimimaro for fending off the sickness that is Naruko. I thank you all for your sacrifice, my comrades." Tears shone in his eyes, but he pushed them down as he did every morning.

His comrades would not have wanted him to cry. They would have wished for him to step forward, to live a life free of Naruko.

He turned and walked out of the room, ready for another day of training.

XXX

Orochimaru ran. The Uzumaki girl was still rampaging behind him, in battle with one of the Snake's shadow clones. He had to get away. He had to return to the Sound. Otherwise…

"Ohohimahu-hama!" The Snake turned to see Kabuto calling to him from the underbrush. Diving down, he joined his subordinate.

For a minute, then two, they desperately crawled away, trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the _thing_ behind them. They could hear nothing other than the occasional explosion in the distance and the pounding of their own hearts, loud as drumbeats in their ears.

Finally, they stopped and waited. Five minutes, then ten. The explosions grew no closer than they had been.

"I hink we'he fah enuh away thah she won' finh uh," the medic whispered, the bones of his cheek snapping back into place. Orochimaru nodded and slowly, delicately, stood. Kabuto followed him, keeping one hand with green chakra playing against it on his ruined cheek all the while.

"Kabuto," Orochimaru hissed. "We must return to the hideout and prepare to move at once."

"Oh?" A third voice interjected. "If you are returning, then would it be possible for you to take me with you?"

Orochimaru lashed out with his Sword of Kusanagi and impaled the source of the voice straight through the gut. It took him a moment to realize that it was not the demon, but rather the dark-haired youth that had accompanied her here.

The boy smiled and his body dissolved into a puddle of ink.

"Goodness," the voice spoke again, this time coming from somewhere else. "You saw through my clone that easily? Danzo-sama told me about you, but I had not expected you to be this perceptive."

Orochimaru frowned, lowered his blade, and decided to roll with it. "Yes, indeed. I… saw through it. That was indeed what just happened." Then he finished processing what the boy had said. "You work for Danzo?"

The youth's fake smile widened. "Indeed. He sent me here with an offer for you." His gaze shifted to Orochimaru's side. "By the way, what is he doing?"

Orochimaru glanced over to see Kabuto shivering and cowering against the ground, covering his eyes and ears. "Oh god please don't let her get me please don't let her get me please don't let her get me please-"

"Kabuto!" Orochimaru snapped. The medic didn't seem to hear.

Orochimaru kicked him.

"Kabuto!" He repeated. "Return to your senses!"

The medic blinked hazily, saw the expression Orochimaru was giving him, and shot to his feet. The shattered frame of his glasses, still on his face, sagged and hung off his nose. His cheek seemed to have finally been fully healed, and when he spoke, his voice was normal once again.

"Ah, yes. I apologize, Orochimaru-sama." He glanced first at his master, then at the youth.

"What were we talking about?"

XXX

"You're late," Sasuke said, not opening his eyes as Orochimaru and Kabuto, along with a third person he did not recognize, entered the hideout. "Where were you?"

He sat on the scaffolding, leaning against a stone pillar. The cool stone behind him soothed his mind and body, cleansing him of the last memories of the nightmare he had had.

"We ran into an… issue." Something in Orochimaru's voice caused Sasuke to perk up. His eyes cracked open, and he saw someone he had never met before.

A boy with hair as dark as Sasuke's and a face as pale as Orochimaru's. He was wearing a twisted, awkward smile on his face, one so utterly fake that Sasuke wondered why he bothered to put it on in the first place. He was wearing a forehead protector, one which denoted him as a ninja of…

Konoha.

Sasuke had crossed the distance in an instant, and pulled Kabuto down to whisper furiously.

"Why did you bring a ninja of Konoha _here_? Are you _insane_?!" He eyed the target of his ire as he spoke, hand reflexively gripping his sword.

The medic let out a low, sheepish laugh. "Ah… He's… well, his name is Sai. He's a defector, just like you. There's no need to worry."

"Oh…" Despite his misgivings, Sasuke released him and backed away, taking in his appearance and that of his teacher.

Kabuto was wearing his usual, deceptive smile, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that his face was half-covered in blood, and his glasses, or what was left of them, were crookedly hanging off his ears and upper lip. Every few seconds, he tried to push them back up so they rested on the bridge of his nose, only for them to immediately slide back off a moment later.

Orochimaru, on the other hand was not outwardly injured, but he looked… unkempt. Mud encrusted his long black hair, along with several branches and leaves, and his clothes were covered in dirt and stained with dew. He too was smiling, but it seemed more of a grimace than anything else.

"What happened to you?"

"We-" Kabuto started, and Orochimaru smoothly interjected.

"We ran into an… issue and now an… urgent matter has come up. You should...go do whatever it is you young people do nowadays with your fellow defector here."

Sasuke eyed Sai. Normally, if he had been meeting a regular Sound ninja, Sasuke would have shaken his hand and greeted him politely, but something about this new arrival made the Uchiha uneasy.

So Sasuke shook his head. "Get someone else to keep him entertained." He turned and made for the door. "I'll be resting in my quarters. Come find me when you're ready to train."

XXX

He was lying awake on his bed, facing away from the door when it happened. There was a displacement, the slightest shift of air behind him. The door had been opened and there was something…

"Who is it?"

A pause, as if from surprise, then…

"Ah, you noticed me? Everyone here is so very perceptive. It makes me feel a bit inadequate." Sasuke had never heard his voice, and yet he knew who it was immediately. There was something about his tone which reminded him of that equally fake smile, no doubt still plastered on his face.

"I see," Sasuke murmured, still not turning. "So you were never really a defector. Why are you here?"

"I… was ordered here by Danzo-sama. My mission…"

 _Danzo?_

It was a familiar name, though not too familiar. What Sasuke did know about Danzo was enough to make Sai's objective clear to him.

 _If he is working for that warmonger, then he must be here to assassinate me._ It almost made him laugh.

 _Well, I suppose there was always going to be a price to pay to escape_ her _, bu-_

"Is to bring you back to Konoha!"

Sasuke froze. His entire thought process simply _stopped,_ like a galloping horse that tripped over a rock and snapped its leg in half.

 _Oh god no no no no-_

He barely even noticed as the ink snakes entwined around his limbs, constricting his movements.

"Well, of course, I'm not just here for Danzo-sama. In fact…" A short pause. "I feel truly grateful to you, Sasuke. Were it not for this mission… I never would have understood the importance of what I protect by protecting Konoha. Before it was always something I did simply because I knew nothing else. But now…"

 _-no no no no no no-_

"Now I understand the people of the village! Their feelings, their desires, but most of all, their love!"

 _-nononononononono-_

"And because of that, I can also pay back Naruko, the person who taught me these things, the person who loves you more than anyone else, by bringing you back for her! And then, as Danzo-sama wishes, you two can have children who will secure the dominance of Konoha for a _generation_ and protect everyone's smiles!"

It broke.

Like a ceiling upon old, crumbling pillars, Sasuke's mind snapped under the weight of horrifying realization. His hands began twitching uncontrollably, his eyes went utterly, completely empty. He became a man possessed. Possessed by single urge so overpowering it consumed him like fire on dry wood, burning away all restraint and reason.

Slowly, ever so slowly, in a motion so graceful that it was difficult to even notice that he was still bound by the ink snakes, Sasuke turned.

The expression on the Uchiha's face was inhuman, almost demonic. Wide, unblinking, glazed red eyes, framed by veins in his cheeks which twitched uncontrollably, and the corners of his mouth were turned up in a mad smile without even a hint of positive emotion behind it.

Sai blinked and returned the smile obliviously.

Sasuke spoke his response. One word.

" _ **Die.**_ "

XXX

"That… was close, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said, trying and failing to push his broken glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I am glad we escaped, but…"

The Snake looked askance at his subordinate. Kabuto grimaced and looked away.

"She will continue to pursue us. You must know that. What will we do next time?"

Orochimaru chuckled. "Worry not, Kabuto. We still have many bases apart from this one. There is one in particular hidden in the Land of Earth, far, far away from here."

"But-"

" _Far, far away._ "

"... Of course, you are correct. Forgive me." He laughed. "And in the first place, there is no possible way that she could find us here anywa-"

An explosion from the direction of Sasuke's quarters rocked the entire chamber, and small chunks of rock, freed from the ceiling clattered across the stone floor.

"..."

"..."

"I…" Orochimaru cleared his throat, then continued. "I am sure that was just the sound of Sasuke and Sai having a small… disagreement. Nothing more."

"O-of course!" Kabuto agreed, a bit too hastily. "There is no way that she found this base! How could she have?"

Another explosion.

"..."

"..."

"Orochimaru-sama, a thought occurs…"

"Yes, Kabuto?"

"Of course, this is a purely hypothetical scenario, but… while we have both worked with Danzo in the past, it has been a while since we last...collaborated." The medic coughed. "If… if Sasuke is fight- _disagreeing_ with Sai, is there not a possibility that Sai was, in fact, never truly a defector from Konoha in the first place?"

Yet another tremor and clap in the distance. More rocks fell from above, some of them sticking to the mud still matting Orochimaru's hair.

"... Go on."

Kabuto cleared his throat uncomfortably and continued speaking. "And… if that is the case, is it not possible that he only joined up with us… in order to, hypothetically of course, lead his team… here? To us?"

Orochimaru chuckled. It sounded both raspy and extremely forced. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but his mouth had suddenly gone too dry to form words. Kabuto continued speaking.

"Assuming - once again, purely hypothetically - that this is the case, and that Sai did not have time to send back word to his allies of our whereabouts before this because we were with him… would not massive explosions like the ones we are hearing right now, ones that can probably be seen and heard for miles around…" He wet his lips and continued. "Would they not be the perfect signal to inform the Konoha team of our location?"

Another explosion rang out.

"..."

"..."

"... Kabuto."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Remember that we do not need to outrun the demon. We simply have to stay ahead of Sasuke."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

They were both out the door in the blink of an eye.

XXX

" **I'LL CUT YOU TO PIECES!** " Sasuke screamed, flinging shuriken and kunai wildly at Sai. The ROOT agent deftly spun and dove through the volley, creating dozens of painted beasts from his scroll as he moved. All of them were annihilated within seconds under the Uchiha's unrelenting onslaught.

 _What ferocity! I won't be able to hold out for much longer, but…_

Sai drew out another scroll from his pouch, rapidly unfurling it with one hand as he formed seals with the other.

Six lions shot out of the canvas, charging straight at Sasuke. Several shuriken struck them immediately, only to bounce off of their stronger bodies.

The Uchiha did not even hesitate, forming a sequence of seals before taking a single breath and exhaling a giant fireball. It engulfed all of the lions and obscured Sai from Sasuke's view.

The ROOT Agent leapt straight up, drawing out another scroll and forming his seal again.

A massive ink bird appeared, and Sai landed on its back, quickly rising straight up, above the frenzied attacks of Naruko's wayward lover.

"You are truly strong, Sasuke!" He called down at his opponent, whose eyes immediately shot upward.

A thought occurred. Maybe praising the rabid Uchiha would help him to calm down a bit? The ROOT agent continued his previous thought.

"No doubt, that strength will also aid you greatly in the bedroom you will share with Naruko!"

Yes. Sai had read in a book that men enjoyed being complimented for their performance in such matters. With this…

" **I'LL KILL YOU!** "

Sasuke's hands swept through seals so fast Sai could no longer see them as anything but a blur. Dozens of fireballs shot into the sky from his mouth, fireballs that Sai deftly dodged.

 _Hm. He's making sloppy mistakes. Does this mean that he's not feeling so aggressive anymore?_ He pumped his fist, trying to imitate a gesture he had seen in the same book he had gotten the previous advice from. _It looks like my praise worked!_

Then he noticed the thin, translucent threads trailing from behind the fireballs. Spinning, Sai looked up to see ten Fuuma shuriken emerge from the fireballs, then reverse their course, straight at him.

Reacting quickly, Sai leapt off of his mount, allowing the blades of the shuriken to pierce it. It dissolved into ink and pattered back on the ground.

Sai landed heavily on his side and barely scrambled aside before Sasuke's blade pierced the place where his head had been, humming with lightning. Desperately, Sai drew his tanto to block Sasuke's next strike, only for the blade to be severed from the hilt with a single strike.

 _Am I… going to die here?_

A kick to the stomach, and Sai landed on his back, hand still numb from the force of the blow. Sasuke was on top of him before he could blink.

 _Naruko… I'm sorry I couldn't bring him back for you._

" **DIIEEEEEEEEEE!** "

Sai smiled what he knew would be the last smile of his life, and for once, felt it was genuine. Sasuke's own face was twisted, a mad grin that was a depraved reflection of Sai's adorning his face, eyes the color of blood burning with an insane, uncontrolled light.

 _But… I'll still be cheering for you, even in the afterlife._

The blade began its descent, straight towards Sai's heart.

"Oh!" A voice called from behind them. "I fiiiiiiiinally found you~!"

Sasuke _stopped_. The blade that had been about to pierce Sai froze an inch above his breast. Every muscle in the Uchiha's face stopped moving.

Sai felt… something in his chest.

 _Is… is this… happiness?_

XXX

Slowly, feeling his limbs creaking, Sasuke turned, expression frozen on his face.

Sakura was there, looking half-apologetic, half-terrified, and there was another man with them, one with brown hair beneath a Leaf forehead protector.

Sasuke didn't notice them. He was too busy focused on the third person. Shining blue eyes, long red hair which framed a delicate, beautiful face with three whisker marks running down each cheek. She was wearing a light orange shirt with long sleeves and dark pants.

And on her face, there was an expression of almost _sexual_ ecstasy.

"Oh! You're smiling!" Vaguely, Sasuke realized that his expression still had not changed from the moment when he had tried to kill Sai. He couldn't change it. Everything had stopped in the face of insane, unrelenting terror.

She continued. "You never smiled before! Are you really that happy to see me?" She brought her hands up to cover her blushing cheeks, glancing away bashfully. "Kakashi-sensei was right! Absence really does make the heart grow fonder!" She turned back to him. "Don't worry, darling~! I'm happy to see you too! I'm so happy…" She let out a low, throaty gasp, a sound filled with promise, one which sent tremors down Sasuke's spine. "That I can baaaaaarely hold it in~!"

He tried to speak, but the only sound that came out was a strangled hiss, like that time he had accidentally stomped on one of Orochimaru's summons.

 _She_ stepped forward. "You're so happy that you can't even speak?" The cherry red blush on her cheeks deepened. "Oh darling… Don't worry, because after today, we'll neeeeever be apart again! Isn't that right…"

 _Nononononononononono-_

"Sa-su-ke~?"


	3. The Coolest Girl

Chapter 2: The Coolest Girl

She was here.

She was _here_.

Sasuke mouth flopped open and closed, trying to process the horrifying reality of what he faced…

 _No, this is impossible how is she here she can't be here this place is hidden she couldn't have found it there's no way it's real there's nowayit'srealnowayit's-_

Yes. What was happening in front of him couldn't be real. It couldn't be real, because something so awful couldn't possibly happen. After all he'd been good for all these past years. He had listened to his sensei, kept up his daily training, worked to protect his comrades and honor the memories of those who had fallen, diligently repaid his debts, never indulged in any of the three shinobi vices, had made his bed and had cleaned his room every day, just like his mother had always told him to.

So why would something so horrible be happening?

Sasuke's mind twisted around the obvious impossibility of his situation, bending like a piece of plywood in a clamp, twisting and twisting before splintering down the center.

Then the answer appeared to him, a ray of light from the heavens.

This wasn't happening. That was it. It was all just a dream! A nightmare! And one of the most terrifying ones yet. Yes, there was no other possible explanation. _No. Other._

"Ahahahaha!" He laughed out loud in a fashion that was definitely not at _all_ forced. "Yes, I see. That is it. It is a dream! Because there is no possible way this could be reality. No way at all. Thus I simply must awaken from it! Ahahahahaha!"

Yamato stared. Sai stared. Naruko let out a moan of pleasure at the sound of his voice. Sakura watched him with eyes filled with the sort of pity one normally reserved for an abused puppy.

A rapturous, certainly not even slightly unhinged, smile spread across Sasuke's face. He sheathed his sword with one hand, reaching back to fumble with his pouch with the other, drawing out a knife.

Then he drove it into his own hand. Blood poured from the wound like a fountain, and a lance of pain ran up his nerves.

He looked up.

She was still there. An expression of covetous, angelic glee on her face, blinding him to the confusion that paralyzed Yamato and Sai. Sakura understood though. She understood all too well.

"Oh, how strange," he pronounced, just as stiff- _completely naturally_ as before. "It appears I am still not awake. Ahahahahahaha!"

He twisted the kunai once. Twice. She was still there. For a moment, reality threatened to crash Sasuke's illusion, reaching out to drag him to the real world. Sasuke grabbed reality by the arm, twisted it behind its back, and then held a knife to its throat, because he wasn't going down quite yet.

"O-Of course!" He exclaimed, in a voice that was definitely not tinged with any hint of sudden desperation at all. "W-when was the last time that hurting yourself in a dream woke you up? I was simply stabbing my dream self! My real body is not hurt! It is unharmed! And definitely not near Naruko! A-ahahahahahaha!"

And then reality stomped down on his foot, broke his grip, spun around and kicked him in the balls.

"Oh, darling!" Naruko cried, jumping forward and throwing her arms around him. "What did that evil, evil Orochimaru do to you to make you hurt yourself like this?" She tightened her grip on him and he squealed like a stuck pig. "Don't worry! I'm here for you, and now, we'll neeeeever be apart again!"

Denied his last, pitiful defence against the unrelenting truth, his mind collapsed utterly.

Undeterred by the sudden, empty look in his eyes, the way his mouth flopped open and closed like a dead fish's, or his complete lack of movement, even in his breathing, Naruko simply smiled happily and inhaled deeply, taking in his musky scent. Then she seemed to notice his hand, still dripping blood all over the ground.

"Oh, Sasuke! You're still hurt!" She broke the embrace and caught his hand. "Don't worry, I'll stop the bleeding!" She said, eyes shining with resolve and a sudden gleam of something else Sasuke's broken psyche was unable to place.

Sasuke's response was as broken as his hopes and dreams, a stream of noises unrecognizable as anything human.

"Still trying to act strong for me, even in a situation like this! I'm falling in love with you all over again, dar-ling~!" And as she spoke, she raised his injured hand to his lips, eyeing it like a particularly sweet dessert.

Then she brought it over and put it in her mouth. She ran her tongue over his fingers, accomplishing little, just smearing the blood. But that was fine, because her tongue simply ran over that spot again. And again. Again. _As many times as it took._

Sasuke was awoken by a strange pressure around his hand, and an insistent swiping at his injuries. Immediately, he was prepared for the violent struggle soon to ensue, as soon as he discovered what animal had his hand trapped-

Naruko let out a deep, aroused moan, opening her mouth as she looked up at him. Her teeth and tongue glistened with his blood, as red as her cheeks and hair. She swirled her tongue around, swishing and mixing it in with her saliva.

Then she closed her mouth and gulped, swallowing it all.

Sasuke completely lost any remaining semblance of calm. That said calm had come from him being catatonic was immaterial.

" _NONONONONO GETOFF GETOFF GET OOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFF!_ "

He tried to twist around and throw her over his shoulder but she didn't break her grip on his arm, holding onto it with her almost unnatural strength. He lost his balance and they tumbled to the ground with her right under him, their faces just inches apart.

Sasuke tried to push himself up and away from her, but she spread her legs, locking them around his waist and pulling him straight down.

"Ahhhhhhhh~" she _moaned_ , saliva dripping from one corner of her mouth, her eyes glassy with pleasure. "Pushing me down like this in front of everyone… you were so happy to see me after all this time?" She released his arm, bringing her hands up to cover blushing cheeks. "How shameless! I'm embarrassed, so embarrassed! But…"

Her hands came up to wrap around his neck and her legs tightened. Sasuke felt his spine _creak_ like an old wooden chair. He felt his body begin to buckle, his face inching closer and closer to hers. He tried to put strength into his arms to resist her pull, but they quickly began to bend as gravity and her monstrous physical strength combined to form an irresistible force.

The distance between their faces closed. Four inches, three, two, one…

The muscles of the Uchiha's arms were trembling with the sheer effort of his futile resistance. He could feel his tendons about to tear from the strain he was putting on them. His lips hovered centimeters above hers now, so close that he could _taste_ the iron on her breath.

"If you missed me so much that you can't hold yourself back anymore, I don't mind making our first child in front of an audience~"

An utter, all-consuming terror more profound than any he had ever experienced before rushed through Sasuke's veins, and that terror lent him the strength he needed.

At once, he let out a high-pitched _shriek_ , like the sound of a thousand adorable puppies being slaughtered, and his skin erupted in electricity.

XXX

Kabuto winced as the inhuman noise reached his ears.

 _Was that… Sasuke?_

He felt the slightest pang of a guilty conscience, and turned to his master.

"Orochimaru-sama," he asked. "Should we… perhaps go back for him? No man could possibly deserve such a fate."

"Oh? Go back? Fate? You do make such amusing jokes, Kabuto." Orochimaru chuckled. "Why, pray tell, is our aid even _necessary_? Sasuke is more than able to take care of himself."

Kabuto blinked. "But that scream-"

Orochimaru smiled. "Come now, Kabuto. You know as well as I that that scream could not have been Sasuke," he said, and let out an awkward, strained half-chuckle, the sound of a man desperately trying to convince himself that what he said would become true if he simply repeated it enough times. "Sasuke would _never_ scream. You have known him for three years! He has never expressed such overt terror in front of us in all that time! Why ever would he start _now_? It does not make sense!"

Kabuto stared.

"What you heard was obviously something completely different." The Snake glanced around. "Such a high-pitched scream could never have come from Sasuke's lungs" He nodded. "Yes. The conclusion is obvious and incontrovertible. What you heard was the terror in the voices of his former teammates when they realized what they were facing. There is no other possible explanation."

And that was when another shriek pierced Kabuto's ears, followed by an entreating scream.

"SAVE ME OROCHIMARU-SENSEI!"

Orochimaru looked at Kabuto.

Kabuto looked at Orochimaru.

"I am… almost completely certain that that was Sasuke," Kabuto said at last.

Orochimaru flinched noticeably, but rapidly regained his composure.

"Ku… Kukuku, truly Kabuto, you are simply full of amusing jokes today. But do you know what _isn't_ amusing?"

Kabuto frowned and tilted his head quizzically.

"The fact," he said, "that we are _still close enough to hear it_."

Kabuto pondered.

Perhaps there was some merit in his own argument, but Orochimaru also made a compelling case. After a moment's hesitation, Kabuto turned around to give his response.

And then realized that he had already been left in the dust.

' _Orochimaru-sama… truly you never fail to astound me. You managed to understand my thoughts without even having to hear me speak!'_

Increasing his speed, the medic shot forward, trying to keep pace with his master.

He didn't even flinch when the next scream reached his ears.

XXX

For a bare instant as the current of lightning around his body touched them, Naruko's arms around his neck convulsed, their grip slackening.

It was more than enough. Unable to hear anything else over the sounds of his own screams, Sasuke forced as much strength into his upper body as he could muster and pushed himself up, breaking her grip around his neck.

He fell, landing on his back, his screams cut off as the air rushed out of his lungs. Scrambling as quickly as he could, he got to one knee.

Unfortunately, as soon as he did, he saw that _she_ was rising as well. It was slow, her muscles still obviously unresponsive as electricity crackled over her skin.

But despite that, he saw her lips moving.

 _Sa-su-ke~_

The young Uchiha _shrieked_ , and charged her, his hand singing with lightning. He needed to end her, he needed to stop her, to stab her straight through her heart-

Then he realized.

His Sharingan captured the scene with perfect clarity. She couldn't evade, she was still stunned. She was defenseless. She was smiling. Smiling in anticipation, a faint trickle of drool trailing from the corner of her mouth.

Why. Why was she smiling. _Why was she-_

The world slowed to a crawl around him as his mind worked a hundred, a thousand times faster than it ever had before.

 _I am going to stab her in the heart with a Chidori, and she is smiling._

Or rephrased...

 _I am going to run my arm through her chest, and she is smiling._

And then, he realized.

 _I am going to ram my long, hard, thick appendage through her pink folds and into the deepest part of her body while she smiles in euphoria._

Sasuke instantly aborted the attack, the lightning fizzling out on his hand. It wasn't a conscious decision. He simply had _known_ in that instant, with every cell of his body that if he had continued through with it as planned, he would have lost something extremely important to him, something he would never have been able to get back.

Unfortunately, while he was able to dispel the jutsu, his own momentum was another thing altogether. Sasuke slammed into something, falling over as he did and hitting his head

He shook his head, trying to clear his vision. He pushed down, trying to rise, but instead, his left hand encountered something…

Soft?

What was this?

Sasuke squeezed once, trying to get a grip on the strangely yielding object. It felt... nice. The texture was light, spongy, like a mid-sized feather pillow. And it fit perfectly in his hand, like it was made for it.

He squeezed again.

"Iyan~"

He froze as he understood.

 _I was aiming for her heart, but I stopped the chidori, so this is-_

Slowly, feeling like some inexorable force was forcing him up, he raised his head.

"I thought all this time you were so shy, playing hard to get… but you were just waiting all this time to surprise me! Sasuke, you're so bold~!"

He couldn't even scream. The pure terror was so great that he couldn't move his lips to form sounds.

"Are you speechless with happiness?" she asked. "Don't worry, darling!"

Sasuke desperately tried to form words, to say anything that would make her stop, but all that escaped his mouth was a sound like that made by a kitten being given its first bath.

"Ssssshhhhh…" she whispered. "You don't need to say anything."

Her hands began reaching towards his head.

"Soon, neither of us is going to be speaking~"

And Sasuke crossed a threshold. There was no time for terror. There was no time for fear. Like a sailor facing down a massive shark, he couldn't let her touch him. If she did, he would-

Sasuke channeled his chakra, and from within his sleeves shot out two great white snakes, each wrapping around Naruko's arms and binding them to her body. Sasuke leapt away, this time landing on his feet.

"Ahn~" she moaned. "So aggressive! I didn't know you were into this sort of play, dar-ling~"

He couldn't win. He could see that, now. No matter what he threw at her, she at most, barely slowed down. She was too strong, too resilient, too much. She was beyond him.

He had to run. He had to escape her, to find another place where she wouldn't be able to find him. Sasuke spun, preparing his flight, and in that moment, he tasted true despair.

The three other members of the team which had been dispatched after him had taken advantage of his distraction to cut off his escape.

He whirled from side to side, searching for something, anything, some escape route he could take advantage of, even as he heard the snakes binding Naruko's arm beginning to hiss in pain as her arms strained against the binds.

There was nothing, there was nothing, there was-

He saw it. There, in the corner, immaculate despite the destruction that had been wrought throughout the chamber, pristine, unbroken.

The Shrine to his dear friends, the ones who had sacrificed themselves for his sake, so that he could escape. A single ray of light that had reached him, in this darkest nightmare.

Sasuke froze, he stopped struggling, simply _remembering_.

 _"Man, this little clod, running away from some_ girl _." Jirobo laughed. "Maybe we have the wrong guy? There's no way Orochimaru-sama would pick someone so pathetic as his next vessel."_

' _Jirobo… On that day, your words were harsh, but even then, I understood the meaning behind them. You were pushing me forward, teaching to face my own weakness, to overcome my fear.'_

' _From Jirobo, I learned the meaning of courage.'_

But what was he doing now? He was no different from that day, three years ago. Back then, he had fled her, desperate for any way to escape the madness that had been revealed to his eyes. He was not trying to fight the unreasonable reality of his situation. He simply ran and ran and ran.

No more.

He turned to face Naruko. She was speaking.

"-and after I'm pregnant, we'll go back to Konoha and get married! Everyone will be there, and when our first child is born, we'll name him-"

"N-No," Sasuke stuttered.

Naruko froze.

"What… did you… say?" she asked, her voice a deadly whisper.

He squared his shoulders and spoke again.

"No," he repeated, and this time his voice didn't tremble. "I'm not going back to Konoha with you."

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Sasuke felt his hands beginning to tremble as he continued to meet her gaze, but he refused to waver.

Then Naruko laughed. "Ahahahahaha! I see now! You want me to stay here and get married in Sound!" She pouted. "Why Sasuke, there's no need to sca-"

Another voice echoed in his head as she spoke.

" _Heh, if this was a game, this little idiot would be stuck at level 1."_

' _Kidomaru, you taught me that a single failure does not define a man for his life. Back then, I was indeed a weakling, stuck at level 1. However, just like in a game, if you fail the first time, all you need to do is try again and again until you succeed! And now, I have tried, so I will try again and again until she understands!_

' _From Kidomaru, I learned the value of perseverance.'_

" _No_ ," he said once again, more forceful this time. "I don't want you to stay with me either. I don't want to be anywhere near you!" His voice was rising. "You're-"

 _Schleck._

The snakes binding Naruko's arms were torn to pieces as a crimson cloak of chakra formed momentarily around Naruko's body, two tails waving behind her. Sasuke felt a splatter of gore strike his face, and forced himself not to flinch.

" _Hmph. Your bones are rather low-pitched aren't they? I really want to hear them produce some higher notes the next time I hit you!"_

' _Sakon, Ukon… you taught me that there is a way to find beauty in all things, even the most brutal and terrifying. Sometimes, we are forced to endure things that no one should be able to enjoy. And yet, if we must undergo these experiences anyways, then is it not then laudable, being able to find pleasure in them?"_

' _From Sakon and Ukon, I learned the importance of a good attitude.'_

He was scared. He was so very, very scared. He could barely stop himself from shaking in terror. But...his friends were with him. He had thought they were gone, sacrificing themselves. He had been wrong. The lessons they taught him...the memories they shared...they were still with him, strengthening him. They had been at his side all along.

With them, with nowhere to run-he could stand against her. He had to.

And more than that, he had Orochimaru. Sasuke's burden was light as a feather compared to the one his teacher would soon take upon himself. Just once. Just this once, he had to endure it, and then-

Despite everything, the corners of his lips twitched up momentarily.

Naruko stepped forward once, then twice.

"Sasuke…" she said, and her voice was a flat monotone. No cajoling, no playful lilt or flirtatious teasing. Her eyes were dead, set in a face devoid of any kind of warmth, any remnant of mercy, or even humanity. "This joke isn't funny. Please stop."

Sasuke shook his head. "I'm not joking," he said quietly, but firmly.

A frozen moment. He heard a very loud gulp from Sakura's direction.

Then-

" **SASSSUUUUKKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!** "

An eruption of crimson chakra around her body. Naruko crouched on all fours, three tails of chakra swirling around her.

Sasuke stood before her, readying himself. He knew what had to be done, now more than ever. Chakra surged through his body, and he remembered the words of another of his friends.

" _... fuck off."_

' _Tayuya… you were always concise.'_

He spun on his heel and sprinted directly away from the beast before him, screaming in terror. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that the brown-haired ANBU captain who had been blocking his escape route a moment earlier was already following his example, turning tail and leaping away.

' _Yes… from Tayuya, I learned the importance of fast, tactical retreats.'_

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. Something smashed into him from behind, sending him flying straight through the air to crash into the ground on his back fifty feet away, driving a furrow in the earth behind him.

Before he could even begin to rise, she was on top of him, the crimson cloak fading as she pinned him to the ground.

"Ahahahhahaha!" Her laughter was filled with nothing more than rotting, poisonous insanity now. "A world where Sasuke doesn't love me is worthless garbage. Thus the world needs Sasuke to love me otherwise the world shouldn't exist so I'll break Sasuke's arms and legs and I'll take him back to Konoha and I'll feed him and care for him for years and years and years and then he'll love me and he'll never ever be able to leave and-"

Sasuke closed his eyes. He had lost. Despite his best efforts, he hadn't even stood a chance. She had beaten him, and now, he would never be free from her.

' _My friends…'_

She brought up a kunai, ready to bring it down hilt first on his left elbow, to shatter the arm.

A single teardrop traced its way down the Uchiha's cheek.

' _I'm so sorr-'_

A massive tremor blew the ground beneath them to shards, sending them both flying apart to land thirty feet apart from each other.

' _What?'_

Sasuke shook his head and looked up to see Sakura, her fist still embedded into the bottom of a newly-formed crater, just a foot away from where Naruko had been holding him a moment before.

Unfortunately, Naruko too had seen what had happened.

"Sakura-chan…" she whispered. "So you've betra-"

Sasuke _remembered_.

" _..."_

' _Kimimaro… you were never the most talkative of people, and yet from you, I learned the most important lesson of all about words. Their power is not determined by how often you use them, but_ when. _'_

' _Yes… from Kimimaro, I learned the importance of timing.'_

Sasuke reared back and let out the evillest laugh he could muster.

"Muhahahahahahaha! So, Sakura! You saw through my evil trick did you not? You acted to save Naruko, and keep me from poisoning her with that poisoned kunai I had hidden in my right hand which I was planning on poisoning her with, and which was _utterly destroyed_ in that attack you just made! Muhahahahahaha!"

Sakura's eyes widened for a moment, before she seemed to understand. "Y-yes! That is it exactly!" she called back. "You fiend! What has happened to you in this time with Orochimaru?! You would never have done something so dastardly when we last saw you!" She brought her hands up to her cheeks and gasped dramatically. "No… It cannot be! Orochimaru must have… brainwashed you!"

"D-darling is being brainwashed?" Naruko asked, her eyes suddenly clearing of that insane light. "S-so that's why he was being so cold earlier!" She clenched her fist. "Don't worry, Sasuke! I'll definitely save you, and then…" she giggled coquettishly.

"Hah!" Sasuke laughed. "You think I'm brainwashed? Fools! This is my true form! This is how I really feel!"

"That's exactly what you would say…" Sakura leveled her finger dramatically. "If you _were_ brainwashed!"

And then he felt droplets of water strike his shoulders from above. He looked up, and felt the sky _rumble_ as bolts of lightning began arcing from the clouds.

' _Of course! I launched all of those fire Ninjutsu into the sky when I was fighting Sai, and now…'_

Sasuke laughed once again. "Hmph, brainwashed or not, none of it matters! For while you may have stopped my _first_ secret technique, there is no possible way you can stand against this second one!"

"Second secret technique?!" Sakura cried, seemingly genuinely confused now.

"Yes!" Sasuke cried, and raised his left hand to the heavens. He needed to sell his act, which meant…

" **Oh radiant beast which sleeps within the turbulent storm!** " He cried, projecting his voice with chakra so that it drowned out even the sound of the thunder. " **Oh mighty ruler of the skies! Oh legendary arbiter of righteous vengeance! Grant me the strength of your hammer, the power to crush the twisted logic of this world!** "

An arc of lightning shot from his hand, caressing the storm above them.

" **The first fire was birthed of the storm!** " he cried. " **And from that fire came the first light upon the world of man!"** Power swirled in the skies above, all of it heeding his calls. It seemed as though the more he spoke, the greater the thunder became. " **Now from my hand, the progenitor of earthly light shall be forged into a sword of destruction!** "

Facing him, Sakura and Naruko, one obviously completely bewildered, the other with shining eyes, stared as the winds were whipped into a frenzy. Sai, who had come up behind Sakura just seconds before, was furiously drawing something on a scroll taller than he was.

" **Come, oh blade of brilliant justice, and destroy my enemies with the roar of thunder!** "

And he brought his hand down.

" **KIRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNN!** "

A bolt of lightning, containing the condensed energy of the entire thunderstorm lanced into the ground directly between Sasuke and the three members of the retrieval team.

The earth _exploded_ , kicking up a storm of dirt and rocks. The three members of the retrieval team were blown backwards like leaves in the wind, stunned and blinded by the debris. There was a massive rustling as thousands of birds in the nearby forest flew into the sky.

"WHERE IS HE?" Naruko shouted, arms raised around her protectively. "I CAN'T SEE HIM ANYWHERE!"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Sakura called back just as loudly. "I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING EITHER!"

"WHY ARE YOU TWO YELLING?" Sai yelled.

"I CAN'T HEAR VERY WELL RIGHT NOW!" Naruko called back.

"WE NEED TO BE SILENT!" Sakura roared. "HE'LL BE ABLE TO TRACK US BY NOISE!"

Naruko gasped. "THAT'S A GOOD IDEA!" She called back, then quieted.

A minute passed. Then two.

"WHERE IS HE?" Sai asked.

"Sai, you don't have to yell anymore." Sakura admonished. "I think her hearing is back to nor-"

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Naruko called from right next to her. Sakura winced.

"... Never mind."

The dust began to settle, the furious winds ebbing and abating. At last, their vision cleared to reveal-

-nothing.

Sakura blinked.

Naruko furiously spun, searching for him, sniffing the air as if she was a dog.

Sai just kept smiling.

As one of her teammates began to dig into the dirt next to her, Sakura sighed.

"Sasuke…" she muttered under her breath.

"You are _so_ lame."

XXX

Sasuke hit the ground running, allowing his Cursed Seal transformation to recede as he increased his speed.

His eyes rapidly moved around, taking in everything in his environment, searching for minor tells. Orochimaru and Kabuto must have left earlier. Otherwise, there was no way they wouldn't have come to aid him. And with them gone, they could be anywhere. He needed to find them, to warn them that the base had been lost.

Luckily, there was no doubt a trail of clues and signals his mentor had left behind, to guide him to safety. Finding them wouldn't take long for him with his Sharingan.

Sasuke shivered.

' _I… Back there, I was nearly… If… if she hadn't…'_

He bit his lip as he continued trembling.

"Sakura… You are truly…" he whispered, then raised his fist to the sky in a solemn salute.

"The Coolest Girl!"

 **A/N** : Well that took a while.

A massive thanks to Fancy Face for his help with this chapter, and with this story in general.


End file.
